Mute to the Touch
by heartgirl9229
Summary: Yuki avoids his sister like Ayame avoided him, so when Shigure gets word from the main house that his sister will live with them things change, but with Kyo's help Kohana may have hope to learn that there is nothing wrong with being different, being mute.
1. Nothing Wrong With Being Different

Disclaimer – I don't own InuYasha or it's characters, I don't own pigeon sign language, it's kinda like a dialect.

**I'll describe the signs unless it's finger spelling, once I describe the sign once, I'll just write the word when I use it later on, unless one of the characters knows the sign.**

Shigure hung up the phone and sighed as Tohru called out to them that dinner was ready. Slowly walking over to the table Shigure kneeled down on the cushion and looked up over at the three teens. "Yuki." Said boy looked up at Shigure, "Your sister will be staying with us, Hatori found her in a dumpster after your mother closed her in there, Akito thought here would be best for her." Yuki glared at Shigure accusingly.

"You have a sister? What's she like?" Tohru asked excitedly, "I don't remember you talking about her."

Kyo rolled his eyes, "Please, Yuki treats her like Ayame treated him. That's why he's been living here for so long."

"That can't be true though, Yuki would never do something like that." Yuki shut his eyes as he took a bite of soba.

"Tohru, I'd rather not talk about it." Yuki slowly stood up and put his dishes in the sink before heading for the front door and walking out.

"… was it something I said?"

"No Tohru, Kyo was right. Kohana knows this too; Ayame and Yuki avoid her, they always have. Anyways, she'll be coming later today so I was hoping that our wonderful flower would help prepare a room for her."

"I'd love to!" Tohru thought about the three rooms that still weren't occupied and chose the room closest to Kyo, but across from Yuki's. Tohru's mind was racing over how Yuki could do this to his sister after feeling abandoned by his own brother.

The three of them ate in silence. Tohru went to check on the room after remembering they didn't have any beds to put in there; she began to make a list of everything that they would need.

Yuki just got back when a knock was heard on the door. Looking up, Yuki watched as Tohru answered the door from the couch.

"Hello Tohru." Hatori's hand lay solidly on the six year old's shoulder. Tohru watched the girl squirm, her black hair held securely in a braid. Shigure and Kyo entered the room at the sound of Hatori's voice. "Anything you need will be brought here tomorrow evening, she does have clothes with her now though."

"She looks so small!" Tohru squealed as she kneeled down to be face-to-face with the little girl. "Hi, I'm Tohru! You're so cute! How old are you?" The little girl held up her index, middle, and ring finger. "Three? Really?"

"She's six Tohru, and she's mute." The girl tried to wiggle out of the grasp Hatori had on her. "She uses pigeon sign language. She can hear everything you say to her."

"Wow! I know some letters! My mom's friend taught me." Tohru smiled. Kyo punched Yuki and Shigure watched as Kyo drug Yuki to see Kohana.

She brought her pinky to her chest and looking at Hatori when Yuki grabbed her hand and placed them flat on her chest. "Yuki, do you really not want her here? I can keep her at Akito's if you want." Yuki winced at the thought before pushing past them and walking outside once again. "I called Ayame, he doesn't know she's here though. He should be here in an hour. Not what were you saying earlier? You what?"

'I' she brought both hands out in front of her, palms up, and looked like she was pulling something towards her, she then touched her left index finger to her right before moving them and pointing them off to her left.

"No, you're staying here, we already talked about this."

"What did she say?" Tohru asked curiously. Kyo looked off into the distance and asked her to repeat herself before looking up at Hatori.

"She said she wants to go." Hatori refused to let her go out of his grasp. "May we come in?"

Tohru's eyes widened, "Of course! I'm so sorry I forgot to invite you two in." Hatori walked into the house making the girl sit down.

Kyo looked confused but stood across from the girl. 'Me too,' he signed shakily, 'I want to go, freedom.'

Tohru helped bring in Kohana's bags and put them in her room, she had three boxes and a futon, which they had laid on the floor by the window.

"Hatori?" Tohru looked at the doctor, "Why can't she talk, what else can't she do?"

"Tohru, when she was born, her brain never developed correctly when she was in the womb. Her mother didn't have enough Iodine in her diet, and her mother didn't listen to me. By not having Iodine, a particular hormone never formed from the thyroid gland in the neck. People like this are called hypothyroid. This condition somehow damages the developing auditory system. So in turn, she became mute. She's unable to talk, sing, laugh, or make any noises involving her auditory system."

"She can't even scream though? Wow… that's so sad, not being able to communicate easily… I know! Do you know anywhere that teaches sign language?"

"I'll talk to Hiro's mom, she should be able to teach you."

"Thank you so much Hatori!" Tohru clasped her hands together in excitement.

Kyo sat down next to Kohana, she pointed at Kyo and then brought her left hand up to her temple. She then moved her hands rotatingly before making an L shape with both of her hands and bounced them sideways, away from eachother.

'I know a l-i-t-t-l-e sign language.' Kohana watched Kyo's shaky hands and face as he attempted to talk to her. She opened her backpach and took out a notebook before turning to a blank page and took a black marker from her bag.

Feel free to talk if you want, it will be easier for you.

"You write well for a six year old." He joked as she wrote more on the line; **my mommy had me learn to write when I was 3. **"That's a long time." She nodded her head and quickly shoved the notebook and marker into her bag when she heard voices coming down the stairs.

"Kohana." Hatori waited for her to look at him before continuing, "I have to leave now so be good, and you'll be understood if you finger sign slowly, I'll be back tomorrow with Hiro's mom, okay?"

She held up her left hand and shook it up and down.

"I'm glad you understand, Kohana. Souma san will test you so you can finally go back to real school, she agreed to be your interpreter." Hatori bowed to them all before leaving.

Yuki came back downstairs when he saw his sister signing to Kyo. As soon as she saw Yuki though, she immediately stopped signing and looked down at her feet.

"K-o-h-a-n-a?" Tohru attempted to talk to her while finger spelling. Kohana looked at her and made the sign for the letter K, and then rested it on the palm of her hand before wiggling it around. Tohru looked confused.

'M-y n-a-m-e i-s Kohana.' she signed as slow as she could as she re-signed her name in sign language quickly.

"D-o y-o-u w-a-n-t t-o g-o s-h-o-p-p-i-n-g w-i-t-h u-s?" Tohru looked at the girl excitedly. Kohana looked over at Yuki who was putting on a jacket and glared at her. She quickly moved her index and middle finger to her thumb and repeated the sign twice while shaking her head. "Well, okay! Maybe next time." Tohru smiled big and attempted to hug her, but Kohana ducked down and wiggled in the spot she was in to avoid the hug.

Tohru and Yuki left as Shigure came out holding what looked like another one of his trashy novels.

"Hey Kohana," Shigure said as he saw her, "How do you sign understand?" the girl, still sitting on the couch, flicked the air close to her eye with her left hand with her index finger and thumb. "Thanks!" Shigure watched her intently and smiled to himself as he walked back upstairs only to rush back downstairs when Ayame burst through the door.

As soon as Kohana saw him, her eyes went wide and she ran upstairs before Ayame could see her.

"Shigure, it was so lonely without you. When Hatori said you needed me I knew I could stay away no longer."

"Oh Ayame, I knew I could count on you." The two friends embraced.

"You scared her off." Kyo stated as he went to go look for the young girl.

"Who did I scare Kyon-kichi?" Ayame began to follow Kyo into his room. Kyo turned on the light and saw Kohana curled up in a corner. Her hands flew wildly in fear. Kyo walked over to her and told her to calm down. "Who is this?" Ayame asked from the soor.

"Your sister." Ayame watched Kyo calm her down without transforming, luckily Kyo didn't hug her.

'W-h-a-t-s w-r-o-n-g Kohana?' Kyo asked her after sitting across from her, Ayame sat on the bed and watched Kyo's hands move into foreign shapes unknown to Ayame.

'D-o-n-t l-e-t h-i-m h-u-r-t' she quickly pointed to herself.

"He won't hurt you. The stupid snake is too messed up to even thread a needle." Kohana smiled big and threw her head back. Kyo glared at Ayame, whom avoided eye contact. "Why would he hurt you?"

'H-e h-a-t-e-s me. I d-i-f-f-e-r-e-n-t.'

Kyo looked her in the eye; "There's nothing wrong with being different."


	2. Lost in the Crowd

Disclaimer – I don't own InuYasha or it's characters, I don't own pigeon sign language, it's kinda like a dialect.

**I'll describe the signs unless it's finger spelling, once I describe the sign once, I'll just write the word when I use it later on, unless one of the characters knows the sign. **

This chapter is dedicated to Hikari and Kyo San 0.07. Hikari, your questions will be answered in this chapter.

Everyone was downstairs after Kohana fell asleep except Tohru, who was busy with homework and studying for make-up exams with Uo and Hanajima.

"Why is she afraid of you Ayame?" Kyo asked as he took a bite out of his apple.

"Something I did a while ago, before I decided I wanted to recover lost relationships. She was always really small, she was a preemie by I think two months. She was perfect, what our mom always wanted. Besides being a preemie, everything was perfect. The best pregnancy and pretty easy delivery compared to us. Kohana was a girl and not a part of the junishi, she was everything we weren't and I got so mad… you see, she can't scream, we did some harsh things, a few friends and me… things I regret now. I remember how happy I was finding out she was mute, she wasn't so perfect and I thought someone needed to teach her her place so I brought her before Akito… after that, I did what I had been doing to her and Yuki, ignoring them and hoping they'd go away…"

"How old was she?"

"About twoish…"

"TWO! DAMN you stupid snake!!! That was only four years ago!" Ayame hung his head and began to wring his hands. "Then what's Yuki's problem?" Kyo took another bite of his apple and stared at the vacant eyed rat.

"It's none of your business what my "problem" is."

"She is six, and afraid of you both! Ayame more than you, but still. And what was that thing you did with her hands earlier?" Kyo was trying to piece this all together. The whole family issue that lay in the rat's family.

"Nothing, it's like telling someone to shut up and covering their mouth." Yuki acted as if nothing was wrong.

Shigure sighed. "Aya, can you call me when you get back home?" Ayame nodded his head and left after giving his brother and Shigure a hug. Yuki left for his garden leaving Shigure alone with Kyo.

"You know, I've never seen you so interested in a person like this." Shigure sat down on a chair and chewed on the end of his glasses.

"Yeah, well, I'm sick of their family and their crap. Yuki won't even look at her and Ayame acts, well, like Ayame.

"He regrets a lot of what he did."

A few minutes later the phone rang and Shigure answered it, giving the phone to Kyo. "This is so much fun, it's like we're spies getting secret information!" Kyo hit Shigure in the back of the head and watched as the writer disappeared into his room.

"Hello?"

"Kyo, you want to know what's wrong with Yuki? He once told me… But you have to trust me when I say growing up with our mother was hard. We hold grudges, and still do, I've slowly gotten over mine a year ago."

"Just get on with it."

"Okay, well here's what happened…

An eleven-year-old Yuki watched as the best person his mother could find tutored his sister. He stood in the stairway peeking through a fake tree as he watched his mother smile at Kohana and hug her tight.

His mother walked out of the room and Yuki quickly stood up and acted as if he was coming down. His mother passed him without a glance. The only words he heard was 'pack your things, you're going to live with Akito for a while.'

Yuki shivered at the thought of leaving. He quickly packed his things and headed downstairs when his sister stopped him.

Kohana handed him a picture of a badly drawn house with people inside. She pointed to the purple stick figure and then back to Yuki. Attempting to tell him who it was. Yuki looked at his sister and ripped it up as he started crying. To him, she was the reason he had to leave.

Yuki pushed her down the stairs and ran outside only to be greeted by Hatori smoking a cigarette. Hatori finished smoking and threw the bud on the ground as he walked towards Yuki and helped him into his car.

Yuki was then for the next part of his life in a dark room to be tortured by Akito however the Souma god chose.

An eighteen-year-old Yuki attempted to get the images out of his mind. The moment he left he treated her like Ayame treated him, only worse.

Tohru stood behind him and listened as Yuki dug and weeded his garden, preparing for tomorrow when he would be planting new seeds for spring. "It's all her fault," Yuki whispered harshly as the days in the dark room flashed before his eyes, "its all Kohana's fault."

Kyo fell asleep thinking of everything he learned, and was finally glad to wake up the next day. Kyo opened his eyes only to see Kohana sleeping close beside him. Nervously, Kyo looked down only to confirm his suspicion. He had indeed transformed last night. Kyo quickly peeled his clothes and put them on as he watched Kohana toss and turn in her sleep.

Rolling his eyes, Kyo looked down at her and woke her up. Kohana rubbed her eyes and searched around the room with her eyes. The room passed her inspection, for even in the dark, Kohana knew what she was hiding from wasn't in here.

Kyo helped her off of the bed and held her hand down to the kitchen where he "helped" her make breakfast. Pancakes and fruit salad.


	3. School, and Friends Not Followers

Disclaimer – I don't own InuYasha or it's characters, I don't own pigeon sign language, it's kinda like a dialect.

**I'll describe the signs unless it's finger spelling, once I describe the sign once, I'll just write the word when I use it later on, unless one of the characters knows the sign. **

This chapter is dedicated to PurpleCow12, cooliocows215, tohrukun92126, and Kyo San 0.07.

Hiro's mom slowly walked into the room and sat across from Kohana. Kohana looked at her and smiled as she put her left hand to her head and moved it away. "Hello to you too." She smiled and crossed her legs. "Are you excited to try out the new school?"

Kohana put her left pinky into the palm of her right hand; she then made a fist and stuck out her thumb, putting the thumb under her chin and pulling in out shaking her head, f-u-n.

"What do you mean 'it's not fun?" Kohana was relieved when she saw Souma san because it meant she could sign at her normal speed.

"So is everyone else at school?" Kohana nodded, "Well I'm sorry I'm late. Let's head down to the school then." Kohana got up and held Souma san's hand as they walked to the elementary school. Kids of all ages were playing and laughing and Kohana just tugged on Souma san's hand harder as she sped inside the building. Souma san laughed as she guided Kohana through the halls into the office.

Once inside, Souma san walked up to the secretary and smiled. "Hello, I'm Konioku Souma, Kohana Souma's interpreter. We're here for assessment testing."

The secretary nodded and showed them into a room where one other kid was taking a test.

After Kohana finished, the test was run through a machine and the secretary quickly assigned her a classroom.

Kohana slowly walked into the second grade classroom and nervously waited for the teacher to notice her at the door. A hand shot up to alert the teacher to the guests.

A man with a friendly smile walked over to Kohana and bent down to her level after telling the class to work on page seven in their workbook. "Hi, my name's Sato sensei. What can I help you with?"

Konioku put a hand on Kohana's shoulder, "Her name is Kohana Souma, and I'm her interpreter." She handed the teacher the note from the office and looked around.

"Have a seat then by Marik, Marik, please raise your hand." A hand shot up quickly. Kohana moved to the seat, it was closest to the window. Sitting down, Kohana wondered what to do just as Sato sensei handed her five workbooks and told her that they were going to be working on writing on page five.

Kohana put the other notebooks in her backpack and opened her workbook. She looked down at the page and smiled, it was a picture of a smiley-faced sun.

Kohana read the directions and got to work on writing a story.

As the day progressed, Kohana sat alone, and when it was time for recess, slowly walked outside with her head hung. She had told Souma san that she was fine and wouldn't need help outside.

She saw Kisa and Hiro, they were on the swings, but as she started walking towards them, Marik tripped her.

Angrily, she stood up and wiped the dirt and bits of blood from her hands onto her skirt.

Two boys stood close to him as he pushed Kohana back down. "What's wrong stupid? Can't you even stand up without falling over?" Kohana didn't even attempt to get back up as tears began to cloud her vision.

Marik kicked her and was about to kick her again when he was pulled away from her.

"What's wrong with you? Can't you even pick a fight with someone your own size, or are you really that incompetent that you have to pick on someone who can't fight back. And what's with your followers, don't you have any real friends?" Hiro questioned as Kisa told him to be careful.

Kisa ran over to Kohana and helped her up, checking to make sure she was fine. "Oh Kohana, you're bleeding." Kisa looked at her arm and knee that had been ripped open and was steadily bleeding.

Kisa got a teacher over to the problem and told them everything she saw before helping Kohana to the nurses' office.

Konioku saw Kisa leading Kohana and ran over to them at the sight of blood. "Kisa, what happened?"

"Marik pushed her. Hiro and I stopped him though. No one deserves to get picked on." Kisa was remembering the time when she was picked on and how that was.

"Well it's a good thing this school is first through eighth grade then. Thank you so much Kisa, but I think I'll handle this from here."

Kisa nodded and hugged Kohana before heading back outside.

Kohana watched the halls and doors as she passed by them on her way to see the nurse. The windows seemed tall and the hallway endless.

Konioku attempted to hold Kohana's hand, but the six year old refused to be touched. Her hands were still bleeding.

Konioku left Kohana with the nurse.

A boy a few years older looked at her. 'I, she pinched the shirt near her left shoulder, your, she ran her middle finger down her part in her hair.'

He continued looking at her before speaking. "You're the girl Marik was picking on right?"

'Yes.' She nodded her head.

"You need to be careful. Stick closer to your friends."

'I no have, she linked her index fingers and the switched them, linking them the other way.'

"Then make some." He watched as the nurse came out and helped her after struggling to find out what happened.

One everything was done; she walked out and sat next to the boy with black hair.

'I know you.'

"We met earlier."

She shook her head and pulled out a pocket sized notebook and a marker.

"**No, you're Megumi.**" She wrote down and showed it to him

"I still don't remember you, I'm sorry."

Kohana sighed and hung her head as she slowly walked out into the hall.

"Wait." Kohana stopped and turned to see him walking towards her. "How did you know me?"

"**You helped me.**"

Megumi searched his memory, but still didn't remember. "What's your name?"

"**You told me never to tell you.**"

"Well a name is important." Megumi followed her out into the playground where she sat on the steps of the building.

"**What age group is this?**"

"You mean the school?" She nodded her head. "umm… from first grade to eighth grade."

"**Where are you?**"

"Seventh."

The bell rang and the kids began to filter into their classrooms.

"**Kohana.**" She wrote down fast and quickly showed it to him. He looked confused. "**My name: Kohana.**" She showed him the paper before letting the crowd sweep her inside and too her classroom.


	4. What Now?

**Disclaimer – I don't own InuYasha or it's characters, I don't own pigeon sign language, it's kind of like a dialect. **

**I'll describe the signs unless it's finger spelling, once I describe the sign once, I'll just write the word when I use it later on, unless one of the characters knows the sign.**

Kohana was busy trying to catch up with the rest of her class, she had been told how far they were in each book, and planned to have it done by the end of the week.

Kyo walked into his room only to see Kohana smiling and writing a story about a dragon and an acorn.

"You really need to learn to live in your own room."

Kohana smiled big and shook her head before continuing on with her story. So far the dragon named Piko found a magical acorn that helped him change colors. Kohana wanted to end the story, but she wasn't sure how, so she carefully wrote her last line.

**Piko dropped the acorn and never found it again.**

Kohana put the book in her bag and decided to finish everything else later, she turned around and watched as Kyo dug through a box full of what looked like paints. Thinking quickly, Kohana climbed onto the bed and peered into the box. Kyo removed his hands and grinned as she pulled out a silver paint tube and dropped it back in.

Kohana began to move her hands to start the word 'what' when Kyo closed the box and put it back under the bed.

"I thought I hid something in there, I guess not..." Kyo muttered.

"Lost something?" Yuki asked from the doorway.

"Yeah, I lost this!" Kyo said as he grabbed a marker from his bed and threw it at the rat, who easily dodged it.

"You need to get better aim. You have a guest downstairs." Yuki turned to leave and walked to his room. Everyone but Kyo and Kohana had somewhere else to be, but Yuki didn't mind. He pulled out a book and began to read about a guy named Oedipus. The myth seemed pretty interesting, but soon Yuki was brought out of his thoughts as Kyo walked into the room.

"Haru and I are gonna hang out at Shishou's, so you need to keep an eye on Kohana." Yuki was about to object when Kyo pushed Kohana into the room and ran outside.

Kohana looked up at her brother with wide eyes. She glanced around and was about to leave the room when she heard Yuki walk towards her. Kohana turned towards her brother and looked up. Yuki picked his little sister up and dropped her on the couch downstairs.

"Stay out of my room." Yuki didn't say it loud, but mean enough for Kohana to scramble to the far side of the couch to watch Yuki pick up the phone and dial.

The phone rang four times before a familiar chipper voice picked up.

"Hello?"

"Ayame, this is Yuki."

"Yuki? It's so great that you called! When was the last time you came over here? How is Student Council going? Shigure told me earlier but he always leaves out the interesting parts" Ayame gushed. Yuki sighed and waited for Ayame to stop talking.

"Would you mind picking Kohana up?"

"Why? Is she okay?" Ayame sounded worried, but Yuki didn't care.

"She's fine, but everyone left and I thought you two could spend some quality time together." Yuki seemed please with his excuse.

"I think you two need it more." Ayame's voice grew serious, "If you want, I could pick you both up and we could go get lunch in town."

Yuki paused, he hadn't been expecting Ayame's responce, "Fine." Yuki hung up and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

Kohana didn't say anything, but tears began to fill her eyes. She was glad that she couldn't make any noise, because she knew that letting Yuki know he upset her wouldn't be the best idea. Silently, she waited for Ayame to arrive. From what she gathered, Yuki was sending her off with Ayame.

"Ayame will be here sometime, we're going with him to lunch and whatever else he decides to drag us to." He sat on the couch as far away from Kohana as he could manage as he drank his water. Kohana merely slid off the couch and walked into Kyo's room to dump out her school books. SHe carried her backpack with markers and her notebook downstairs.

She walked over to the table and pulled out a blue marker and her notebook.

**I'm sorry you don't want me here.**

Kohana brought the notebook to Yuki and waited for him to read it. She didn't dare even attempt to sign to him.

"It isn't your fault." Yuki stated grimly as he tossed the notebook back to her. He wanted Ayame to pick them up. At least he wouldn't be alone with her.


End file.
